To The Point:
I have been an AT&T customer since I bought the iPhone 4 back in July 2010. My two-contract is expired, yet I'm still being charged essentially the same monthly rate. Doesn't make sense to me personally because isn't the phone fully paid for at the end of the contract? I have heard that paying the full cost of the phone from a no-contracts carrier is cheaper in the long run than being in a two-year contract. Yet, to my understanding in the USA the only no-contract carriers I have heard about are Cricket Wireless and Virgin Mobile. I checked out both their websites for the iPhone 4S only discover that they don't even carry the iPhone 4S in the capacity I need (32 GB).
Do the major carriers of the iPhone like AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon even offer no-contract options for the iPhone? If I were to buy an unlocked iPhone 4S from a source like eBay or my local Craigslist, then how would I get service for the phone? Would the major carriers still charge me the same monthly costs if they required a contract or not? Or if I did buy an unlocked iPhone 4S, what would be the cheapest solution for service?
My service needs are fairly low. Most of the time I don't go over 450 minutes in a billing period, I don't go over the 200 MB data limit because I use Wi-Fi most times, and my texting usage is very light such that I opted for the plan that charges me 5 cents for text sent/received.
Also, the best trade-in value price I have seen right now for my current iPhone 4 (Black, 32GB, AT&T) is $218.86 (eBay Instant Sale).
Background Information:
I know the iPhone 5 is coming really soon, but I've decided I don't have the money to buy the iPhone 5. Plus from what I've heard about the strongest, substantial rumors of the iPhone 5 (i.e. bigger screen, NFC chip, 4G, faster performance), I've decided that none of those are really must have features for me that I can comfortably live without for now. Besides, I have a policy wherein I like to keep all my Apple devices on the "same generation" and therefore I don't like the idea of buying the newest iPhone if I'm not able to buy the newest MacBook Pro. I bought both my MCP and my iPhone 4 in 2010. But since the iPhone 4S is essentially the same as the iPhone 4 with some modest improvements, I would justify that as still being within the same generation. Plus the iPhone 4S is about to become the "not latest" phone so that might make the iPhone 4S within my budget to buy. I didn't even consider buying the iPhone 4S when it premiered because I didn't think it was a big enough improvement from the iPhone 4 to buy it. But then once I heard about Siri and how Siri was only on the 4S, that had me intrigued because the Siri functionality does impress me and I do see myself using Siri often.
I have been an AT&T customer since I bought the iPhone 4 back in July 2010. My two-contract is expired, yet I'm still being charged essentially the same monthly rate. Doesn't make sense to me personally because isn't the phone fully paid for at the end of the contract? I have heard that paying the full cost of the phone from a no-contracts carrier is cheaper in the long run than being in a two-year contract. Yet, to my understanding in the USA the only no-contract carriers I have heard about are Cricket Wireless and Virgin Mobile. I checked out both their websites for the iPhone 4S only discover that they don't even carry the iPhone 4S in the capacity I need (32 GB).
Do the major carriers of the iPhone like AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon even offer no-contract options for the iPhone? If I were to buy an unlocked iPhone 4S from a source like eBay or my local Craigslist, then how would I get service for the phone? Would the major carriers still charge me the same monthly costs if they required a contract or not? Or if I did buy an unlocked iPhone 4S, what would be the cheapest solution for service?
My service needs are fairly low. Most of the time I don't go over 450 minutes in a billing period, I don't go over the 200 MB data limit because I use Wi-Fi most times, and my texting usage is very light such that I opted for the plan that charges me 5 cents for text sent/received.
Also, the best trade-in value price I have seen right now for my current iPhone 4 (Black, 32GB, AT&T) is $218.86 (eBay Instant Sale).
Background Information:
I know the iPhone 5 is coming really soon, but I've decided I don't have the money to buy the iPhone 5. Plus from what I've heard about the strongest, substantial rumors of the iPhone 5 (i.e. bigger screen, NFC chip, 4G, faster performance), I've decided that none of those are really must have features for me that I can comfortably live without for now. Besides, I have a policy wherein I like to keep all my Apple devices on the "same generation" and therefore I don't like the idea of buying the newest iPhone if I'm not able to buy the newest MacBook Pro. I bought both my MCP and my iPhone 4 in 2010. But since the iPhone 4S is essentially the same as the iPhone 4 with some modest improvements, I would justify that as still being within the same generation. Plus the iPhone 4S is about to become the "not latest" phone so that might make the iPhone 4S within my budget to buy. I didn't even consider buying the iPhone 4S when it premiered because I didn't think it was a big enough improvement from the iPhone 4 to buy it. But then once I heard about Siri and how Siri was only on the 4S, that had me intrigued because the Siri functionality does impress me and I do see myself using Siri often.
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